Planetary Systems Laboratory

Two Columns

Cassini - Saturn Orbit Insertion

Artist's concept of Cassini during the Saturn Orbit Insertion burn, just after the main engine has begun firing. The spacecraft is moving out of the plane of the page and to the right (and, therefore, firing to reduce the spacecraft velocity with respect to Saturn) and has just crossed the ring plane.
By David Seal (Image P-46507AC).

Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) for the Cassini Mission

A major effort in the Branch is the development of the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) for the Cassini Mission. CIRS will measure the tropospheric and stratospheric thermal structure, and the gas and aerosol structure, of Saturn and Titan through measurements in the 5-1000 μm spectral region. Measurement of molecular hydrogen pressure-induced absorption features will allow retrieval of tropospheric temperatures and determination of the ortho-para ratio for hydrogen. Cloud structure will be studied by correlating near- and far-infrared measurements. Limb measurements of methane features will allow stratospheric temperature retrieval between 0.01-10 mbar levels. Latitudinal hydrocarbon variation and minor constituent vertical distribution will also be studied.

CIRS was designed and built at Goddard, in collaboration with the Engineering Directorate, and utilizing hardware provided by British and French groups. Scientific involvement in the CIRS observations extends to many co-Investigators at other NASA Centers, and U.S. and foreign Universities.